Normally, many medicines are stored in vial containers (medicine-storing containers) each having a mouth section sealed with a rubber plug. The medicines include, for example, liquid preparation and powdery preparation that has to be dissolved. A method of operating a vial container in the former case (hereafter referred to as “Case 1”) and a method of operating a vial container in the latter case (hereafter referred to as “Case 2”) will be described below.
Case 1
A cap that covers a mouth section of the vial container is detached.
A rubber plug of the vial container is disinfected with cotton containing alcohol.
Air slightly less than a liquid amount to be collected is injected into a syringe.
A needle mounted on the syringe is inserted orthogonally through the rubber plug.
The vial container is turned upside down together with the syringe, and a position of the vital container is adjusted such that a needlepoint is located lower than a liquid surface. Then, an appropriate amount of the liquid medicine is sucked into the syringe. In this instance, a pressure inside the vial container becomes negative.
The position of the vital container is adjusted such that the needlepoint is located higher than the liquid surface, and the air is returned into the vial container at the mercy of a pressure difference by the amount that has been sucked.
The previous two steps are repeated, and a prescribed amount of the medicine is collected.
After completion of collecting the medicine, an appropriate amount of the air is sucked from the vial container, and the needle is taken out, keeping the pressure inside the vial container negative.
Case 2
A syringe filled with dissolving liquid to dissolve a medicine is prepared.
A cap that covers a mouth section of the vial container containing the medicine is detached.
A rubber plug of the vial container is disinfected with cotton containing alcohol.
needle mounted on the syringe is inserted orthogonally through the rubber plug.
Air is released from the vial container by the amount of the dissolving liquid to be injected so as to make the pressure inside the vial container negative.
The dissolving liquid is slowly injected at the mercy of a pressure difference without foaming.
After injection of the dissolving liquid, the vial container is slowly shaken with the syringe fixed together so as to dissolve the medicine. In the case where the medicine is hardly dissolved, the needle is to be taken out once, and then the container is shaken. In this instance, preferably the needle is taken out, keeping the pressure inside the vial container negative.
After confirming that the medicine is completely dissolved, a necessary amount of the medicine is collected in the same method as Case 1.
In the case where a full amount of the medicine specified in the Drug Standards is not to be used, a necessary amount of the liquid medicinal is measured by graduations of the syringe. However, in this case, the pressure inside the vial container may temporarily become positive. Therefore, when the needle is to be taken out, an appropriate amount of air is to be sucked before taking out the needle so as to keep the pressure inside the vial container negative, paying careful attention not to leak any medicinal liquid from a needle hole.
In both Cases 1 and 2, the pressure control is required, which is laborious.
Also, in the case of a medicine that is dangerous if exposed, such as carcinostatic agents, attention has to be paid especially at the time of controlling the pressure. In the case where this pressure control is not carried out correctly, there is a possibility, for example, that the medicine is spattered from the vial container at the time of taking out the needle. The medicine may be spattered because the pressure inside the vial container is positive. Additionally, there is a possibility that the medicine leaks from the needle hole. The reason for this leakage of the medicine is that, when the pressure inside the vial container is negative, force is applied from the syringe to the medicine inside the vial container.
To solve the above problems, there is a known technique of using a medicine-storing container including: a container body being a hard tubular body; and a flexible bag body disposed inside the container body, in which powdery medicine is contained inside a medicine storing space surrounded by the container body and the bag body (see, for example, International Patent Publication No. WO/2010/122872 (hereinafter “Patent Document 1”)). In this medicine-storing container disclosed in Patent Document 1, a syringe filled with dissolving liquid that dissolves the medicine can be connected to a mouth section of the container body. Further, the bag body can be reversed inside and outside (reversed to front and back) by operating the syringe to perform discharging and sucking in this connected state. As a result, a rise (increase) or a drop (decrease) of the inner pressure of the medicine containing space can be suppressed.
Further, the bag body may take a first state in which the bag body expands toward a distal end side, and a second state in which the bag body expands toward a proximal end side when the bag body is reversed as described above.
Further, a stepped section, at which the inside diameter and the outside diameter are rapidly changed, is located at a position halfway of the axial direction of the container body. The container body is divided into a diameter-reduced section on the distal end side and a larger-diameter section on the proximal end side, interposing the stepped section as a boundary. Further, the bag body is positioned inside the diameter-reduced section and protected inside the diameter-reduced section in the first state, and is positioned in the larger-diameter section and protected the larger-diameter section in the second state.
However, according to the medicine container disclosed in Patent Document 1, in the unused state, the bag body is in the first state and positioned in the diameter-reduced section of the container body, and the larger-diameter section of the container body does not substantially function to protect the bag body. Therefore, depending on the use state of the medicine container, more specifically, depending on whether the medicine container is the unused state or the in-use state (during operation), the larger-diameter section may be the part unnecessary. Moreover, the entire length of the medicine container is elongated by the length of the larger-diameter section, and there are cases in which a relatively large storage area is occupied by the medicine container in the unused state.